Tom Grandine, The Boeing CompanyGeometry Generation for Analysis and Optimization

Preliminary design requires timely engineering analysis of large numbers of
designs. This leads to the requirement that geometric models be created both
rapidly and automatically. Moreover, geometric models so created must necessarily
be part of a continuous parametric family of designs, all of which satisfy a
large number of shape and spatial integration requirements for the intended
vehicle family. Although commercially available geometry systems have some of
the attributes needed to satisfy geometry generation requirements for preliminary
design (e.g. many are parametric), none are ideally suited for this application.
For many years (decades, in fact), we have been pursuing the holy grail of advanced
geometry generation tools which satisfy both the stated and unstated requirements
imposed by preliminary design of advanced vehicles. This talk will describe
the status of our quest as embodied by the Boeing General Geometry Generator
(GGG), our current best effort which has enjoyed some success in design space
exploration and optimization.